Children of the Vienna State Opera School (chorus master: Johannes Mertl)

Students of the Vienna State Opera Ballet Academy

Stage Orchestra and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera

Christian Thielemann (conductor)

The great attraction, apart
from the imperishable lovability of the work, to this new production of Hänsel und Gretel was clearly the
presence of Christian Thielemann as conductor. That proved to be its strongest
suit in practice, allied to the Vienna State Opera orchestra on excellent form.
One sensed, even if one were not aware already, that the musicians loved
playing for him, and they sounded, which is not always to be taken for granted,
as they might on summer holiday in Salzburg. The fabled Vienna strings, of late
more fallible than many might expect, here sounded both golden and rich by
turn, and sometimes simultaneously; their sound combined ‘orchestral’ and
‘chamber’ quality. The brass were warm, weich
(tender, although that does not perhaps quite convey the sound of a Viennese
horn in Wagnerian repertory), well blended. There was, moreover, plenty of life
from the woodwind section, which took its solo opportunities with all the
excellence one might have hoped for.

For all that undeniable
instrumental excellence, however, it was Thielemann’s ability, as I recall
noting in his Dresden Rosenkavalierat about this time
last year, to play the orchestra almost as if it were a piano which marked this
out as a great performance. Thielemann had the orchestra respond to the ebb and
flow both of Humperdinck’s score and his conception thereof, not only as if
there were little or no distinction between the two, but also as if this really
were chamber music writ large, at least some of the time. There might well be
fluctuations in tempo, dynamic contrast, balance, beyond what the
literally-minded would expect, but they sounded ‘natural’ – what a multitude of
sins is contained in that apparently simple word! – and, above all,
dramatically motivated. Wagnerisms pervaded the performance; how could they
not? As, however, in the greatest performances of this work, they had one smile rather than grimace, let
alone frown. It is increasingly difficult for some of us to put out of our
minds – nor, perhaps should we – the conductor’s increasingly bizarre or
downright offensive political pronouncements; nevertheless, he remains a great
conductor. Perhaps his flaws make him ideal for Strauss, in whose music he has
always excelled; his Wagner has often been overrated, which is not to say that
he does not have great talent in that respect too. This, at any rate, was in
every respect a beautifully Straussian performance of Hänsel und Gretel.

Thielemann was of course
fortunate to have a good cast. Daniela Sindram clearly relished the trouser
role of Hänsel, communicating his awkward boyishness without awkwardness.
Ileana Tonca was a properly feminine foil as Gretel; the two worked well
together. Adrian Eröd showed his intelligent way with words as their father,
with Janine Baechle as a warmly maternal partner to him. I am not entirely
convinced that the admirable Michaela Schuster is best suited to the role of
the Witch, but she made a good deal of its pantomime possibilities. There was
some lovely and some less lovely singing – at times, too much vinegar – from
Annika Gerhards.

The grave disappointment,
however, is Adrian Noble’s School of Cameron Mackintosh staging. That this is
an opera born of a Grimm Brothers tale, which tells of child abuse, there is
nothing to be seen. There is a world of difference, moreover, between a
‘traditional’ staging which takes the work, perhaps unfortunately, at face
value, and one which disingenuously pretends there is no grit to the oyster.
Here, with no video expense spared, we seem in the world of a Hollywood
‘product’ rather than German Romantic opera. There is no sense of the
children’s plight, even at the most basic level; instead, the lowest common
denominator is encouraged to ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’. In a programme interview, Noble
was asked whether Freud had found his way into the production. ‘Nein, nicht
direkt,’ came the response. He need not have bothered with the second and third
words of his response.